Windows Phone's terminal wind-down: Microsoft sets new sunset dates

Windows 10

Microsoft has issued a warning over a few new key cut-off dates coming for developers who built apps for Windows Phone 8.x and Windows 8.

With no future for Windows Phone, Microsoft has now laid out its plans for the remnants of its mobile effort.

From October 31, the Microsoft Store will no longer accept new app submissions for Windows Phone 8.x or earlier, or for Windows 8/8.1, though it will continue to accept updates for existing apps in the store, Microsoft said in a blogpost.

From July 1, 2019, the company will stop app distributing updates to devices running Windows Phone 8.x or earlier devices.

Developers can still publish updates to all existing apps in the store, including those with Windows Phone 8.x or earlier packages. However, Microsoft will make these available to Windows 10 devices.

The cut-off for apps targeting Windows 8 and 8.1 devices is a little further off. Microsoft plans to stop distributing updates to these devices on July 21, 2023.

Microsoft is telling developers of apps for its older mobile and desktop operating systems to instead port their existing software to its Universal Windows Platform for targeting all Windows 10 devices, from Microsoft’s HoloLens headset to PCs.

Microsoft briefly rolled out out its ‘My Phone’ app for Windows 10 more broadly. There are also new Insider test builds of its ‘Redstone 5’ Windows client and Server and Patch Tuesday fixes for many Win 10 variants.